Intermodal on track for 2013 grand opening

Mark Taylormtaylor@gardnernews.com
Southwest Johnson County Economic Development Corporation members took part in a bus tour of the construction site following their quarterly luncheon meeting last September..
John Hovland, director of marketing and facility development, served as one of the tour guides.
Hovland said the initial construction calls for 48,000 feet of track, 1,810 truck parking spaces, and 4,300 container stacking spots.
That will provide capacity for about 500,000 lifts.
“A lift is taking a container and putting it on a rail car, or taking a container and taking it off of a rail car,” Hovland said.
The Edgerton intermodal – which will replace a smaller facility in Argentine — will be one of two in the country with electric lifting capability.
The facility will use state-of-the-art electric cranes that measure 253 feet wide.
Backup power will be in place in the event of an outage.
“There will be a redundant (electrical) feed,” Hovland said. “There will be feeds from two different transmission stations. When done right, you won’t even know the power went out on the first feed.”
The cranes can complete a lift in about a minute and a half.
Truck drivers can be in and out of the facility in 25 minutes.
“A lot of facilities take an hour or more,” Hovland said.
With initial grading and construction work underway at the complex, the first building on the site is starting to take shape.
A hostler truck and maintenance building is visible on the east side of the development.
Hovland said the Allen Group, developer of the logistics park portion of the development, is also looking into repurposing a historic stone house on the intermodal property.
“The Allen Group is looking into getting permits to occupy the house and using it as a sales center for the logistics park,” he said.
The intermodal logistics park is expected to be open for business in the fourth quarter of 2013.
Construction on a new “divergent diamond” interchange to serve the development is expected to begin early next year.
Construction work on the interchange — located at Interstate 35 and Homestead Road – is expected to get underway this spring.
KDOT selected the Homestead location after studying other alternatives based on its location between existing interchanges at Gardner and Sunflower roads, because it created the least impact on the surrounding areas, and because it was the least expensive option.
The state will fund the construction.
Daily traffic counts on I-35 between Gardner and Sunflower roads is currently estimated at 25,000 vehicles per day.
By 2040, that number is estimated to reach 64,000 vehicles per day.
The intermodal logistics park is expected to generate more than 17,000 vehicle trips per day, including 7,000 commercial trucks.
County commissioners were told in February that construction bids for road improvements serving the intermodal came in below estimates.
Hannes Zacharias, county manager, said bids were opened by the Kansas Department of Transportation in January.
The bids for the county’s share of improvements to 191st Street, Homestead Lane and a Homestead Lane interchange came in about $3.7 million below the engineer’s estimate.
Clarkson Construction Company was the low bidder.
“KDOT is working to finalize the contract with Clarkson,” Zacharias said. “Clarkson is expected to start construction on the projects this spring and planned to be completed by the end of the 2013 construction season.”
The county agreed in 2009 to contribute $14 million toward the project.
The bids for each project follow. The engineer’s estimate is in parenthesis.
Improvements to 191st Street from Four Corners Road to Waverly Road: $4.7 million ($7.2 million).
Improvements to Homestead Lane from 191st to 199th streets: $6 million ($6.6 million).
Homestead Road interchange at Interstate 35: $21.3 million ($23.9 million).
The Allen Group, developer of the logistics park, has identified its first warehouse tenant for the development.
The DeLong Co., an exporter of containerized grain, closed on the purchase of an 8.7 acre site last year.

Comments

Gotta make it faster than lightning to load and unload those containers so the millions of trucks can be tearing the roads up faster than lightning. I just looooooove paying for all of the infrastructure wants and needs – that is the public part of this public/private PARTNERSHIP……I know who will be running to the bank with wads of cash coming out of their pockets.

Did you notice all of the landscaping in the photo…………..makes it all pretty like, doesn’t it and it is GREEN too just like all of those dollars the taxpayers will be paying…..St. Pat’s Day is coming up, maybe the SW Jo. Co. Economic Corp. and all of the thieves can have a parade out there in Edgerton or at Mildale Farm with their berm to keep out the noise.

Concerned- I live in this area also. We were out doors approximately around 4 ish to 5 ish and heard the same thing. Not to thrilled about this. I wonder if this blasting will do any damage to our foundations?

Here is my e-mail to Mayor Lehman back on Nov. 11, 2005. This was when I still thought elected politicians worked for the AVERAGE CITIZEN and that they would listen to them. Man, have I ever learned a lot since then and it truly makes me sick to know what I have learned.

I have been reading in the KC Star about the railroad hub the city of Gardner is encouraging. It is my understanding the Council is supporting this hub.

I cannot support this hub – I do not want the additional truck traffic involved. I know you are looking for an increase in our tax base but this is one project I cannot see would be worth the extra dollars that we would receive.

Would appreciate it if you would forward my comments to the other Council members. Thanks for listening.

Here is another e-mail I sent to the County Commissioners on March 24, 2006. Please note you got your sales tax increase and whole bunch more tax increases, utility cost increases and on and on and they will never stop for the average citizen – citizens will be paying for that horror story from now until kingdom come along with living with all of the adverse affects. Welcome to the politicians who protect you so well…………..yeah, right……….tell me another joke today……the tax abuse gets worse by the day and good ole Brownback and many more are trying real hard to bring the hammer down even harder on the average citizen………………

Recently I had sent you an e-mail requesting that you not support the above BNSF Railway project since I didn’t want the increased train and truck traffic (since I knew our roads would be affected) and the probability of increased crime. I also do not feel it is a project I would like to have in my neighborhood (only a couple of miles from me).

Today I read the following in the KC Star: “One reason Johnson County needs the extra money (referring to the bill in the Kansas House to increase the sales tax), lawmakers explained, was the roads and other improvements needed for a proposed $200 million BNSF Railway intermodal shipment center southwest of Gardner. The bill is HB 2689.” Not only is there a possiblity I will get a project of which I disapprove but I will have the possibility of a sales tax increase. Olathe did not want this project but they, too, have the possiblity of paying the increased tax.

Yesterday on the news there was an article about a woman arrested for child abuse – one of the charges was placing salt into an open wound. If I have to pay an increased sales tax for a project that I don’t want, I will know exactly how that child felt when the salt was poured on. There are laws against child abuse but to my knowledge there are none for tax abuse – if there was I would certainly be looking into filing charges.

I am not a wealthy developer or lobbyist – just a common taxpayer – do you listen to us anymore????????

Think you are going to have a few trains and trucks in the Gardner area. Here is some info I found on BNSF’s website back in 2006. I can hardly wait for the trains to stop traffic and the trucks backed up to who knows where…………..listen to the propaganda pushers and this is what you get………and you get to pay all the bills for this crap……………

THE BNSF INTERNET SITE ISSUED A CONSUMER UPDATE MEMO ON NOVEMBER 7, 2005. THEY ADVISED THEIR CLIENTS THEY WERE CLOSING THEIR GATES AT THEIR ALLIANCE, TX. LOCATION TO TRUCKS BRINGING IN EMPTY CONTAINERS DUE TO RECORD VOLUME LEVELS OF TRAFFIC. THEY REOPENED THEIR GATES ON NOVEMBER 10, 2005 BUT ADVISED HUB REMAINED CONGESTED.

Here is my letter to the Gardner citizens on April 15, 2006 about my River of Dreams rather than a River of Flip Flops. Oh, how we need that worldwide college of culture and peace today considering all that is going on in our world – will we ever have world peace and respect for other’s cultures? I highly doubt it when I see what is happening right here in the U.S. Not happy with what I see happening today and it gets worse by the day in my opinion. Only the people will make a difference and they better start getting their heads on straight I would say.

I have been attending the meetings with respect to the Intermodal Rail Facility. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad wants us to be part of their River of Trade. They want to move their intermodal facility from Argentine, Kansas City, Kansas to here outside of Gardner. The Burlington Northern Santa Fe’s River of Trade starts at our ports in southern California and moves to our heartland here in Gardner. I believe the goods being moved are from China, Taiwan and southeast Asia. This intermodal facility will create lots of TRUCKS, TRAINS AND WAREHOUSES.

The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad web site issues consumer update memos – I would like to bring to your attention the one dated November 7, 2005 for the Alliance, Texas location. This memo indicates this facility closed its’ gates to trucks on November 7, 2005 due to record volume levels of trucks coming in with empty international containers. The gates will remain closed for this until November 11, 2005. Will reopen as soon as conditions allow. Order rescinded on November 10, 2005 but hub remains congested and we ask for your consideration in managing the flow of empty containers to the ramp on Thursday.

I believe you probably know now what you will get with this facility and how it will affect your quality of life. I would now like to present you with my River of Dreams. Lots of dreams do not come to reality but some do. What I would like to see on this prairie outside of Gardner is a World College of Culture and Peace. I see an educational institution with the best and most talented students coming from all countries throughout the world. These students would stay here for four years to gain knowledge with respect of all cultures, learn to respect one another and go home with World Peace as their main goal in life. They could fly into our New Century Air Center from all parts of the world to a place that could change many lives. I believe the military school in Leavenworth teaches war tactics – this institution would teach World Peace. It would not only be a place of learning – each student would be teaching others. The cultural exchange we could have here right in our back yard is unlimited.

So my question to Gardner residents – do you want a river of flip flops or a river of knowledge, ideas and world peace???

Judith L. Rogers
Gardner, Kansas

P.S. You may not believe in my River of Dreams, however, if you do have a concern for this railroad project, PLEASE attend the next Intermodal Facility Meeting, April 25, 2006, 7:00 P.M. at City Hall.

Jesus, are you really comparing you having a few additional trucks come down your road to that of a child having salt poured in open wounds by it’s own mother? You are complete lunatic with no shred of empathy.

I note some comments from citizens with concerns about blasting, damage they may sustain, etc. Please read the following article from a Chicago paper dated April 2006. Some will say this article represent fear mongering………..I will leave to each citizen to come to their own conclusions………..I just would not wish any of this on anyone.

*************************************************************

> Apr. 10–At night, while most of Chicago sleeps, families near the CSX
> Intermodal rail yard in West Englewood lie awake, their homes shuddering
> from something that sounds like trucks falling from the sky.
>
> In daylight, they watch cracks spreading across ceilings or walls and
> wipe clean the black diesel dust that settles on floors and
> dishes–byproducts of a 24-hour operation that handles as many as 700
> truckloads per day.
>
> When CSX opened the rail yard in 1998–an economic boon to the
> struggling South Side neighborhood–everybody knew there would be noise
> and traffic.
>
> The city, initially wary of the yard, negotiated an agreement with the
> freight hauler to pay $300,000 a year into a neighborhood investment
> fund as a way to turn a potential nuisance into a plus for the blighted
> area.
>
> But neighbors say the fallout from rail yard activities is worse than
> they imagined. And the money, nearly half of it set aside for homes with
> bad roofs, porches or windows, seems to have gone everywhere but to
> those in the worst spots.
>
> Portions of the $2.8 million paid by CSX so far have gone to a
> picture-frame shop, a suburban roofing contractor, a street-cleaning
> program employing ex-convicts and a project to build a neighborhood
> strip mall, documents show.
>
> But plans for a sound barrier have fizzled.
>
> Chicago was built around one of the nation’s great railroad hubs, and
> from its early years, there have been conflicts between residential life
> and the demands of the industry.
>
> A century and a half later, the South and Southwest Sides remain crucial
> junctions in the nation’s freight system, now dependent on steel
> containers weighing up to 40 tons each that can be switched from trucks
> to railcars to ships.
>
> CSX does not dispute Englewood residents’ complaints that the West
> Englewood yard has caused sleep deprivation, illness due to diesel
> pollution and property damage.
>
> In response to a class-action lawsuit last year, in which some nearby
> homeowners sought to limit the yard’s operations to daytime and
> early-evening hours, the company did not take issue with those
> allegations.
>
> CSX lawyers instead noted that the company is immune to such court
> action under a 1995 federal law that leaves regulation of rail
> operations to the Surface Transportation Board. That federal agency said
> it hasn’t received any complaints about the yard.
>
> A federal judge dismissed the suit, noting CSX’s contention that cutting
> operations would cost $500,000 a day in lost revenues.
>
> “We’re working with the alderman and the faith-based organizations to
> try and be good neighbors,” CSX spokeswoman Kim Freely said.
>
> Critics complain, however, that any benefits from the rail yard have
> been arbitrary.
>
> Of the 35 or so households that have benefited from CSX’s West Englewood
> fund, mainly through a hand-drawn lottery held in 2003, most are at
> least half a mile from the yard, where its concert of slamming
> containers, horns and revving diesel engines can scarcely be heard.
>
> “Those people don’t even know there is a train yard over here,” said
> Quincy Johnson, who blames a crumbling porch and ceiling cracks in his
> Hamilton Avenue home on a towering overhead crane nearby that stacks
> room-size metal containers onto metal train beds.
>
> City officials say it is not their problem.
>
> “If there are complaints about damage and people believe it is a result
> of CSX, they need to deal with CSX directly,” said Connie Buscemi,
> spokeswoman for the city’s Planning and Development Department.
>
> Before the rail yard opened, city officials had sought to open an
> industrial park in 10 vacant acres owned by the former Conrail company.
> Upon learning that CSX had acquired that land and intended to use it,
> the city persuaded the freight company to contribute the equivalent of
> the tax revenues projected for the industrial park.
>
> Officials targeted a 2-square-mile area surrounding the site as the
> stage for local improvements delivered by the CSX fund.
>
> The money has fostered community development in a blue-collar
> neighborhood long starving for local investment, Buscemi said, adding
> that the city has not received any proposals specifically seeking to
> repair homes closest to the yard.
>
> Besides agreeing to pay the city at least $300,000 a year until 2018 for
> its operations in West Englewood, the Florida-based company has
> sponsored local parades and turkey drives and contributed $2,000 toward
> a new neighborhood community center, Freely said.
>
> The intensity of need in the neighborhood showed when the city sponsored
> a 2003 lottery to determine whose homes would be fixed with $300,000 set
> aside for emergency repairs.
>
> In an elementary school auditorium, members of a standing-room-only
> crowd strained to hear whether their names had been pulled from a box up
> on stage. Several who won had never seen the rail yard, those who
> attended recalled.
>
> “The people closest to the yard got a raw deal on that one,” said John
> Paul Jones, chairman of the non-profit Greater Englewood Community and
> Family Task Force.
>
> Carolyn Brown won new windows, doors and some tuck-pointing on her
> Throop Street graystone, which sits a mile from the yard.
>
> “I didn’t have the money to do any of that,” Brown said of the $10,000
> job. “I was lucky.”
>
> Some small-business owners also have benefited.
>
> Herbert Goode, president of Silver Cloud Galleries, a picture-frame
> manufacturer in West Englewood, applied for aid and used the $25,000 he
> received to pay for glass-block windows and other renovations to the
> brick industrial building his company bought in 2000.
>
> “I was going to do the repairs anyway,” Goode said. “I didn’t get as
> much as I expected. Still, I was reimbursed for something, which is
> better than a kick in the head.”
>
> James Capraro, a veteran community activist who helped city officials
> negotiate the terms of the fund, said local community leaders did not
> anticipate the rail yard’s impacts.
>
> His group, the Greater Southwest Development Corp., has used $250,000
> from the fund toward efforts to rehab four abandoned houses in nearby
> Chicago Lawn, he said.
>
> Another group, Neighborhood Housing Services, has used about $400,000
> from the fund to help homeowners–none closest to the rail yard–with
> facade improvements.
>
> “The fund wasn’t created to correct the ills of the railroad because the
> railroad wasn’t supposed to create any ills,” Capraro said.
>
> The fortunes of those helped by the fund have heightened resentment near
> the CSX yard, where the noise continues.
>
> “My granddaughter [is] scared, waking up screaming sometimes,” said
> Annetta Allen, gesturing toward Janai, 6. The pigtailed girl watched
> hip-hop videos in their Hamilton Avenue living room, where a web of
> cracks zigzagged from a wall onto the ceiling. Outside, a recently paved
> sidewalk also had cracks.
>
> Local concerns fall most heavily at Goodlow Magnet School, which sits a
> block from the yard on 62nd Street, near a CSX retention pond that
> neighbors say is a mosquito problem.
>
> Goodlow Principal Patricia Lewis said teachers complain about groggy
> pupils sleeping at their desks. A concentration of asthma cases at the
> school also has officials wondering whether it’s related to diesel fumes
> and dust wafting from the rail yard, though there is no evidence to
> support that, she said.
>
> Ald. Theodore Thomas (15th), whose ward wraps around the rail yard,
> agreed that residents are suffering. But he said his hands are tied by
> the agreement that spreads the neighborhood fund over 2 square miles.
>
> “I don’t like the service area of CSX,” Thomas said. “I think we’re
> stuck with it.”
>
> Ollie Mae Ervin has for years kept her grandchildren’s old socks as
> proof of her misery. Wrapped inside plastic freezer bags, the
> lace-fringed toddler socks were covered with the black diesel dust Ervin
> says she mops from her linoleum floors most mornings.
>
> Splayed across a table like crime scene evidence, the packages carried
> handwritten labels that documented years of frustration: “2002, 2003,
> 2004, 2005.”
>
> “I just mop so much all the time,” Ervin said, while a diesel engine
> rumbled outside. “Some days, there’s so much dust you feel you can
> hardly breathe.”
>

Please read the following again about the DAILY traffic counts, Charlie, guess you don’t get it but it is more like you don’t WANT to get it…………………..and these are just “projections”……..have fun keeping up with the costs of roads only and that is just the tip of the iceburg………tell me again about those roads paved in gold………..

Many distinct sources exist over a 2,000-year timeframe. The old Sumerian poems, and a later Akkadian version, are the chief sources for modern translations, with the Sumerian version mainly used to fill in lacunae in the Akkadian version.

Although several revised versions based on new discoveries have been published, the epic remains incomplete.[1]

The earliest Sumerian poems are now generally considered to be distinct stories rather than parts of a single epic.[2]:45 They date from as early as the Third Dynasty of Ur (2150-2000 BC).[2]:41-42 The earliest Akkadian versions are dated to the early second millennium[2]:45, most likely in the eighteenth or seventeenth century BC, when one or more authors drew upon used existing literary material to create a single epic.[3] The “standard” Akkadian version, consisting of 12 tablets, was edited by Sin-liqe-unninni sometime between 1300 and 1000 BC and was found in the library of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh.

The Epic of Gilgamesh was discovered by Hormuzd Rassam in 1853 and is now widely known. The first modern translation was published in the early 1870s by George Smith.[4] Recent translations into English include one undertaken with the assistance of the American novelist John Gardner, and John Maier, published in 1984. In 2001, Benjamin Foster produced a translation in the Norton Critical Edition Series that uses new material to fill in many of the blanks in previous editions.

The most definitive[5] translation is a two-volume critical work by Andrew George. George discusses the state of the surviving material, and provides a tablet-by-tablet exegesis, with a dual language side-by-side translation. This translation was published by Penguin Classics in 2000. Stephen Mitchell in 2004 supplied a new controversial translation, which was published by FreePress, a division of Simon and Schuster. The first direct Arabic translation from the original tablets was made in the 1960s by the Iraqi archeologist Taha Baqir.

The discovery of artifacts (ca. 2600 BC) associated with Enmebaragesi of Kish, mentioned in the legends as the father of one of Gilgamesh’s adversaries, has lent credibility to the historical existence of Gilgamesh.[2]:40-41

[edit] Versions of the epic[edit] Standard Akkadian versionThe standard version was discovered by Austen Henry Layard in the library of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh in 1849. It was written in standard Babylonian, a dialect of Akkadian that was used for literary purposes. This version was compiled by Sin-liqe-unninni sometime between 1300 and 1000 BC from earlier material.

The standard version, and earlier version, have different opening words, or incipit. The older version begins with the words “Surpassing all other kings”, while the standard version has “He who saw the deep” (ša nagba īmuru). The Akkadian word nagbu, “deep”, probably refers to “unknown mysteries”.[citation needed] Andrew George believes that the mysteries it refers to is information brought back by Gilgamesh from his meeting with Uta-Napishti (Utnapishtim) about Ea, the fountain of wisdom.[6] Gilgamesh was given knowledge of how to worship the gods, of why death was ordained for human beings, what makes a good king, and how to live a good life. The story of Utnapishtim, the hero of the flood myth, can also be found in the Babylonian Epic of Atrahasis.

The 12th tablet is a sequel to the original 11, and was probably added at a later date. It bears little relation to the well-crafted 11-tablet epic; the lines at the beginning of the first tablet are quoted at the end of the 11th tablet, giving it circularity and finality. Tablet 12 is a near copy of an earlier Sumerian tale, a prequel, in which Gilgamesh sends Enkidu to retrieve some objects of his from the Underworld, and he returns in the form of a spirit to relate the nature of the Underworld to Gilgamesh.

[edit] Content of the standard version tablets[edit] Tablet oneThe story begins by introducing Gilgamesh, king of Uruk. Gilgamesh, two-thirds god and one-third man, is oppressing his people, who are crying out to the gods for help. For the young women of Uruk this oppression takes the form of a droit de seigneur — or “lord’s right” — to sleep with newly married brides on their wedding night. For the young men (the tablet is damaged at this point) it is conjectured that Gilgamesh is exhausting them through games, tests of strength, or perhaps forced labour on building projects. The gods respond to their pleas by creating an equal to Gilgamesh in order to distract him. They create a primitive man, Enkidu, who is covered in hair and lives in the wild with the animals. He is spotted by a trapper, whose livelihood is being ruined because Enkidu is uprooting his traps. The trapper tells Gilgamesh of the man, and it is arranged for Enkidu to be seduced by a harlot. This seduction by Shamhat, a temple prostitute, is his first step towards civilisation, and after seven days of making love with him, she proposes to take him back to Uruk. Gilgamesh, meanwhile, has been having dreams that relate to the imminent arrival of a loved new companion.

[edit] Tablet twoShamhat brings Enkidu to a shepherds’ camp, where he is introduced to a human diet, and becomes the night watchman. Learning from a passing stranger about Gilgamesh’s treatment of new brides, Enkidu is incensed and travels to Uruk to intervene at a wedding. When Gilgamesh attempts to visit the wedding chamber, Enkidu blocks his way, and they fight. After a fierce battle, Enkidu acknowledges Gilgamesh’s superior strength and they become friends. Gilgamesh proposes a journey to the Cedar Forest to slay the monstrous demi-god Humbaba, in order to gain fame and renown. Despite warnings from Enkidu, and the council of elders, Gilgamesh will not be deterred.

[edit] Tablet threeThe elders give Gilgamesh advice for his journey. Gilgamesh visits his mother, the goddess Ninsun, who seeks the support and protection of the sun-god Shamash for their adventure. Ninsun adopts Enkidu as her son, and Gilgamesh leaves instructions for the governance of Uruk in his absence.

[edit] Tablet fourGilgamesh and Enkidu journey to the Cedar Forest. Every few days they camp on a mountain, and perform a dream ritual. Gilgamesh has five terrifying dreams about falling mountains, thunderstorms, wild bulls, and a thunderbird that breathes fire. Despite similarities between his dream figures and earlier descriptions of Humbaba, Enkidu interprets these dreams as good omens, and denies that the frightening images represent the forest guardian. As they approach the cedar mountain, they hear Humbaba bellowing, and have to encourage each other not to be afraid.

[edit] Tablet fiveThe heroes enter the cedar forest. Humbaba, the ogre-guardian of the Cedar Forest, insults and threatens them. He accuses Enkidu of betrayal, and vows to disembowel Gilgamesh and feed his flesh to the birds. Gilgamesh is afraid, but with some encouraging words from Enkidu the battle commences. The mountains quake with the tumult and the sky turns black. The god Shamash sends 13 winds to bind Humbaba, and he is captured. The monster pleads for his life, and Gilgamesh pities him. Enkidu, however, is enraged and asks Gilgamesh to kill the beast. Humbaba curses them both and Gilgamesh dispatches him with a blow to the neck. The two heroes cut down many cedars, including a gigantic tree that Enkidu plans to fashion into a gate for the temple of Enlil. They build a raft and return home along the Euphrates with the giant tree and the head of Humbaba.

[edit] Tablet sixGilgamesh rejects the advances of the goddess Ishtar because of her mistreatment of previous lovers like Dumuzi. Ishtar asks her father Anu to send Gugalanna the Bull of Heaven to avenge her. When Anu rejects her complaints, Ishtar threatens to raise the dead who will “outnumber the living” and “devour them”. Anu becomes frightened, and gives into her. Ishtar leads the bull of heaven to Uruk, and it causes widespread devastation. It lowers the level of the Euphrates river, and dries up the marshes. It opens up huge pits that swallow 300 men. Without any divine assistance, Enkidu and Gilgamesh attack and slay it, and offer up its heart to Shamash. When Ishtar cries out, Enkidu hurls one of the hindquarters of the bull at her. The city of Uruk celebrates, but Enkidu has an ominous dream.

[edit] Tablet sevenIn Enkidu’s dream, the gods decide that one of the heroes must die because they killed Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven. Despite the protestations of Shamash, Enkidu is marked for death. Enkidu curses the great door he has fashioned for Enlil’s temple. He also curses the trapper and Shamhat for removing him from the wild. Shamash reminds Enkidu of how Shamhat fed and clothed him, and introduced him to Gilgamesh. Shamash tells him that Gilgamesh will bestow great honors upon him at his funeral, and will wander into the wild consumed with grief. Enkidu regrets his curses and blesses Shamhat. In a second dream however he sees himself being taken captive to the Netherworld by a terrifying Angel of Death. The underworld is a “house of dust” and darkness whose inhabitants eat clay, and are clothed in bird feathers, supervised by terrifying beings. For twelve days, Enkidu’s condition worsens. Finally, after a lament that he could not meet a heroic death in battle, he dies.

[edit] Tablet eightGilgamesh delivers a lamentation for Enkidu, in which he calls upon mountains, forests, fields, rivers, wild animals, and all of Uruk to mourn for his friend. Recalling their adventures together, Gilgamesh tears at his hair and clothes in grief. He commissions a funerary statue, and provides grave gifts from his treasury to ensure that Enkidu has a favourable reception in the realm of the dead. A great banquet is held where the treasures are offered to the gods of the Netherworld. Just before a break in the text there is a suggestion that a river is being dammed, indicating a burial in a river bed, as in the corresponding Sumerian poem, The Death of Gilgamesh.

[edit] Tablet nineTablet nine opens with Gilgamesh roaming the wild clothed in animal skins, grieving for Enkidu. Fearful of his own death, his decides to seek Utnapishtim (“the Faraway”), and learn the secret of eternal life. Among the few survivors of the Great Flood, Utnapishtim and his wife are the only humans to have been granted immortality by the gods. Gilgamesh crosses a mountain pass at night and encounters a pride of lions. Before sleeping he prays for protection to the moon god Sin. Then, waking from an encouraging dream, he kills the lions and uses their skins for clothing. After a long and perilous journey, Gilgamesh arrives at the twin peaks of Mount Mashu at the end of the earth. He comes across a tunnel, which no man has ever entered, guarded by two terrible scorpion-men. After questioning him and recognising his semi-divine nature, they allow him to enter it, and he passes under the mountains along the Road of the Sun. In complete darkness he follows the road for twelve “double hours”, managing to complete the trip before the Sun catches up with him. He arrives at a garden paradise full of jewel-laden trees.

[edit] Tablet tenMeeting the ale wife Siduri, who assumes, because of his dishevelled appearance, that he is a murderer, Gilgamesh tells her about the purpose of his journey. She attempts to dissuade him from his quest, but sends him to Urshanabi the ferryman, who will help him cross the sea to Utnapishtim. Gilgamesh destroys some stone-giants that live with Urshanabi. He tells him his story, but when he asks for his help Urshanabi informs him that he has just destroyed the only creatures who can cross the Waters of Death, which are deadly to the touch. Urshanabi instructs Gilgamesh to cut down 300 trees, and fashion them into punting poles. When they reach the island where Utnapishtim lives, Gilgamesh recounts his story asking him for his help. Utnapishtim reprimands him, declaring that fighting the common fate of humans is futile and diminishes life’s joys.

[edit] Tablet elevenGilgamesh observes that Utnapishtim seems no different from himself, and asks him how he obtained his immortality. Utnapishtim explains that the gods decided to send a great flood. To save Utnapishtim the god Ea told him to build a boat. He gave him precise dimensions, and it was sealed with pitch and bitumen. His entire family went aboard, together with his craftsmen and ‘all the animals of the field’. A violent storm then arose which caused the terrified gods to retreat to the heavens. Ishtar lamented the wholesale destruction of humanity, and the other gods wept beside her. The storm lasted six days and nights, after which ‘all the human beings [have] turned to clay’. Utnapishtim weeps when he sees the destruction. His boat lodges on a mountain, and he releases a dove, a swallow, and a raven. When the raven fails to return, he opens the ark and frees its inhabitants. Utnapishtim offers a sacrifice to the gods, who smell the sweet savor and gather around. Ishtar vows that just as she will never forget the brilliant necklace that hangs around her neck, she will always remember this time. When Enlil arrives, angry that there are survivors, she condemns him for instigating the flood. Ea also castigates him for sending a disproportionate punishment. Enlil blesses Utnapishtim and his wife, and rewards them with eternal life. This account matches the flood story that concludes the Epic of Atrahasis (see also Gilgamesh flood myth).

The main point seems to be that when Enlil granted eternal life it was a unique gift. As if to demonstrate this point, Utnapishtim challenges Gilgamesh to stay awake for six days and seven nights. Gilgamesh falls asleep, and Utnapishtim instructs his wife to bake a loaf of bread on each of the days he is asleep, so that he cannot deny his failure to keep awake. Gilgamesh, who is seeking to overcome death, cannot even conquer sleep! After instructing Urshanabi the ferryman to wash Gilgamesh, and clothe him in royal robes, they return back to Uruk.

As they are leaving, Utnapishtim’s wife asks her husband to offer a parting gift. Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh that at the bottom of the sea there lives a boxthorn-like plant that will make him young again. Gilgamesh, by binding stones to his feet so he can walk on the bottom, manages to obtain the plant. He intends to test it on an old man when he returns to Uruk. Unfortunately, when Gilgamesh stops to bathe, it is stolen by a serpent, who sheds its skin as it departs. Gilgamesh weeps at the futility of his efforts, because he has now lost all chance of immortality. He returns to Uruk, where the sight of its massive walls prompts him to praise this enduring work to Urshanabi.

[edit] Tablet twelveThis tablet is mainly an Akkadian translation of an earlier Sumerian poem, Gilgamesh and the Netherworld (also known as “Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld” and variants), although it has been suggested that it is derived from an unknown version of that story.[2]:42 The contents of this last tablet are inconsistent with previous ones: Enkidu is still alive, despite having been killed off earlier in the epic. Because of this, its lack of integration with the other tablets, and the fact that it is almost a copy of an earlier version, it has been referred to as an ‘inorganic appendage’ to the epic.[7] Alternatively, it has been suggested that “its purpose, though crudely handled, is to explain to Gilgamesh (and the reader) the various fates of the dead in the Afterlife” and in “an awkward attempt to bring closure”,[8] it both connects the Gilgamesh of the epic with the Gilgamesh who is the King of the Netherworld,[9] and is “a dramatic capstone whereby the twelve-tablet epic ends on one and the same theme, that of “seeing” (= understanding, discovery, etc.), with which it began.”[10]

Gilgamesh complains to Enkidu that various of his possessions (the tablet is unclear exactly what — different translations include a drum and a ball) have fallen into the underworld. Enkidu offers to bring them back. Delighted, Gilgamesh tells Enkidu what he must and must not do in the underworld if he is to return. Enkidu does everything which he was told not to do. The underworld keeps him. Gilgamesh prays to the gods to give him back his friend. Enlil and Suen don’t reply but Ea and Shamash decide to help. Shamash makes a crack in the earth, and Enkidu’s ghost jumps out of it. The tablet ends with Gilgamesh questioning Enkidu about what he has seen in the underworld.

[edit] Old-Babylonian versionsAll tablets except for the second and third are from different origins than the above, so this summary is made up out of different versions.

1.Tablet missing
2.Gilgamesh tells his mother Ninsun about two dreams he had. His mother explains that they mean that a new companion will soon arrive at Uruk. In the meanwhile Enkidu and the harlot (here called Shamkatum) are making love. She civilizes him in company of the shepherds by offering him bread and beer. Enkidu helps the shepherds by guarding the sheep. They travel to Uruk where Gilgamesh and Enkidu finally meet. Enkidu and Gilgamesh battle but Gilgamesh breaks off the fight. Enkidu praises Gilgamesh.
3.The tablet is broken here, but it seems that Gilgamesh has suggested going to the Pine Forest to cut down trees and kill Humbaba (known here as Huwawa). Enkidu protests, he knows Huwawa and is aware of his power. Gilgamesh talks Enkidu into it with some words of encouragement but Enkidu remains reluctant. They prepare, and call for the elders. The elders also protest, but after Gilgamesh talks to them they wish him good luck.
4.1(?) tablet missing
5.Fragments from two different versions/tablets tell how Enkidu encourages Gilgamesh to slay Humwawa. Mention is made of Huwawa’s “seven auras” which are not referred to in the standard version. When Gilgamesh kills Huwawa they chop down part of the forest. Enkidu cuts a door for Enlil and lets it float down the Euphrates.
6.Tablets missing
7.Gilgamesh argues with Shamash about the futility of his quest. The tablet is damaged. We then find Gilgamesh talking with Siduri about his quest and his journey to meet Ut-Napishtim (here called Uta-na’ishtim). Siduri also questions his goals. Gilgamesh smashes the stone creatures and talks to the ferryman Urshanabi (here called Sur-sunabu). After a short discussion Sur-sunabu asks him to carve 300 oars so that they may cross the waters of death without needing the crew of stone creatures. The rest of the tablet is damaged.
8.Tablet(s)
[edit] The Sumerian poemsThere are five extant Gilgamesh poems in Sumerian. These probably circulated independently, rather than being in the form of a unified epic. Some of the names of the main characters in these poems differ slightly from later Akkadian names, and that there are some differences in the underlying stories (e.g. in the Sumerian version Enkidu is Gilgamesh’s servant):

1.Gilgamesh and Huwawa (corresponds to the Cedar Forest episode (tablets 3-5) in the Akkadian version).
2.Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven (corresponds to the Bull of Heaven episode (tablet 6) in the Akkadian version. The Bull’s voracious appetite causes drought and hardship in the land).
3.Gilgamesh and Aga (Gilgamesh vs. Aga of Kish, has no corresponding episode in the epic, but the themes of whether to show mercy to captives, and counsel from the city elders, also occur in the standard version of the Humbaba story).
4.Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Netherworld (corresponds to tablet 12 in the Akkadian version).
5.The Death of Gilgamesh (this is the story of Gilgamesh’s, rather than Enkidu’s, death).
[edit] Relationship to the BibleFurther information: Panbabylonism
Various themes, plot elements, and characters in the Epic of Gilgamesh can also be found in the Bible, in particular in the stories of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (both stories involve a serpent) and the story of Noah and the Flood.

The parallels between the stories of Enkidu/Shamhat and Adam/Eve have been long recognized by scholars.[11] In both, a man is created from the earth in the image of a god, lives in a natural setting with animals for companions. A woman is introduced to him.[12] They clothe themselves, and are unable to return to their former state.

Andrew R. George claims that the Flood episode in Gen. 6-8 matches the older Babylonian myth so closely, that few doubt that it derives from the Mesopotamian account.[13] What is particularly noticeable is the way the Genesis flood story follows the Gilgamesh flood tale “point by point and in the same order”, even when the story permits other alternatives.[14]

[edit] Other parallelsMatthias Henze suggests that Nebuchadnezzar’s madness in the biblical book of Daniel draws on the Epic of Gilgamesh. He claims that the author uses elements from the description of Enkidu to paint a sarcastic and mocking portrait of the king of Babylon.[15]

Many scholars note an influence on the book of Ecclesiastes.[16] The speech of Sidhuri in an old Babylonian version of the epic is so similar to Ecclesiastes 9:7-10 that there is likely to be a direct influence. For example, it includes a saying about the strength of a triple stranded rope, which can only be found in the Epic of Gilgamesh and Ecclesiastes (4:12).

[edit] Influence on later literatureNumerous scholars have drawn attention to various themes, episodes, and verses, that indicate a substantial influence of the Epic of Gilgamesh on both of the epic poems ascribed to Homer. These influences are detailed by Martin Litchfield West in The East Face of Helicon: West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry and Myth.[17]

[edit] In popular cultureMain article: Gilgamesh in popular culture
The Epic of Gilgamesh has inspired many works of literature, art, music, as Theodore Ziolkowski points out in his book Gilgamesh Among Us: Modern Encounters With the Ancient Epic (2011).[18][19] It was only after the First World War that the Gilgamesh epic reached a wide audience, and it is only after the Second World War that it begins to feature in a variety of genres.[19

This is the REAL Judith Rogers. I can’t believe all of the lowlifes out there who are willing to do anything to portray me as being against the City of Gardner. Way too much time on their hands if you ask me. Who has the time to make multiple posts on an online site that no one actually reads? How many minds do they think they are changing? All they are doing is proving that they are no-name lowlifes. GARDNER is good, so you’d better get used to it.

I’d like to send this message in case either Judith Rogers or State of Affairs ‘tattles’ on me for posting using the same or similar names. I am exercising my free speech by intentionally using the same form of their posts and I do not believe it violates the rules that you put on the website.

Comments do not necessarily reflect those of The Gardner News, or staff. By posting, commentators assume all liability. Please contact webmaster to report comments that infringe on copyrights, or are of a profane or libelous nature. Webmaster reserves the right to edit or remove content deemed offensive

@State – perhaps we shouldn’t be tattling on other people saying that they are being profane or libelous… I mean you know… all the name calling we do. I mean…. if what this guy is doing is ‘wrong’ then maybe they will have to go back and edit all of our posts where we were less than nice. We don’t want to give those lowlifes the chance to do that!

You and SWOTI started with the fraudulent posting. Pretty much everything you two write is half-truth, meaningless off-topic drivel, childish insults at people who disagree with you because you apparently can’t answer simple questions, or out-and-out lies, where you make up stuff about people.

I take offense to that you lowlife. EVERYTHING I say is important. The City of Gardner is under attack by people who will say ANYTHING to stop economic progress and we have to stop them. That DOPPLEGANGER is spreading discord. This is the Real ™ Judith Rogers and I approved this message.

@charlie Don’t bother trying to reason with them. They failed to mention that traffic was worse with scheduled maintenance rather than accidents. They also have no understanding of basic physics if they think a bridge will randomly fall down because it has increased traffic. It just isn’t worth it. Just smile and nod and let them go back to their basements and tin-foil hats.

@state – Yup, you are right *smile and nod* You make very wonderful points.

To all-knowing Nate L–There WAS NOT any construction when rush-hour traffic was creeping at 1.5 miles an hour in the afternoon. It was just after the bridge collapsed on August 2, 2007 in Minnesota.
People lost their lives.

@state – You’ll have to excuse my confusion since you randomly post so many things without attribution and your previous statements were about increased traffic, I thought you were speaking about traffic in KC. One bridge collapse nowhere near an intermodal means all of the bridges in KC are going to collapse. *nod and smile* good point.

Number of deaths from bridge collapses in U.S. since 2000 (based on wear, not getting hit by a barge, earthquake, or tornado) 13. Statistics estimate that 100 people a year choke on pen caps. WE MUST BAN ALL PEN CAPS!!!!!! PEOPLE DIE!!!!!!

The local bridge that we (cars & semi’s) were creeping along on was the overpass at I-435 entering I-35 South. Not unusual everyday to hear of a wreck during afternoon rush-hour traffic on I-35 South.

AND, the planned overpass for the intermodal will be between Gardner and Edgerton. Best that it be built strong. Lucky if you don’t have to drive it. What wear and tear do you think projected 64,000 traffic count will cause?

I have had an open wound (my financial stability) for years and the corrupt politicians, thieves and those who support them keep pouring the salt into that wound and I would say it is very abusive……………

If you mean ‘open wound’ to mean I don’t like to pay taxes, and ‘pouring salt in my would’ to mean funding things I don’t like then it is EXACTLY the same as having a parent who gave birth to me and was legally obligated for my car that inflicted bodily harm on me and afterwards physically rubbed salt in my wounds. IT IS THE SAME THING lowlife.

How can you not understand my having to pay a couple of bucks a year to fund things that were approved by a city council that I have the ability to vote for isn’t the same thing as a minor being abused by their parents. Once a lowlife, always a lowlife.

Comments do not necessarily reflect those of The Gardner News, or staff. By posting, commentators assume all liability. Please contact webmaster to report comments that infringe on copyrights, or are of a profane or libelous nature. Webmaster reserves the right to edit or remove content deemed offensive.